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Mega Man Returns/Tropes
This is a list of tropes in Mega Man Returns. Tropes * Anti-Frustration Features: ** The game saves between Wily Fortress stages. ** Unlike most Mega Man games, during the Boss Rush, the teleport pads to each Robot Master are labelled with their weapon's icon to make it more clear which leads where. * Anti-Villain: Bass has become this, abandoning his creator to fight Mega Man on his own. * Attack Reflector: Unlike most shields, the Mirror Barrier can reflect certain projectiles. * Barrier Warrior: The Mirror Barrier. * Battle Boomerang: The Jungle Cutter, though it averts Precision-Guided Boomerang by always moving in a fixed path once fired. * Big Damn Heroes: Just as Mega Man's about to lose to the Wily Capsule NEO, Proto Man blasts its shield generator and tosses Mega Man an E-Tank. Final Boss time! * Big Red Devil: This game's devil boss, the Arch Devil, evokes this image by having horns, wings, a tail, and a red paint job. * Bonus Boss: Bass. To unlock his stage, you have to find four messages from him hidden in various stages; specifically, they're in Jungle Man's, Surf Man's, Mirror Man's, and Night Woman's. * Boss Rush: As is tradition. * Brutal Bonus Level: Bass's stage. * Classy Cat-Burglar: Sans the cat theme, Night Woman is this trope. * Denial of Diagonal Attack: Played straight with the Jungle Cutter, but averted with the Bass Buster. * Development Gag: The boss of the first Wily Fortress stage, the Mecha Spider, is essentially a sized-up version of the scrapped Robot Master Spider Woman. * Drop the Hammer: Well, throw the hammer. Sledge Man and his Hammer Joes do it, and with the Hammer Toss, Mega Man can too. * Exact Words: Proto Man did create the eight Robot Masters . . . but he's not behind the invasion. Wily nabbed and reprogrammed them before he could reveal his surprise to Dr. Light and Mega Man. * Excuse Plot: The entire plot is basically a Mega Man 5 Shout-Out. * Giant Spider: The Mecha Spider. * Gimmick Level: Most levels count, but the most notable in Mirror Man's. The entire stage is reflected in a mirror, and certain blocks and enemies only appear on the real or mirrored side. * Gravity Screw: There are no water levels, but Rocket Man's stage takes place in space, so low gravity makes an appearance anyway. * Hartman Hips: Night Woman. * Hopeless Boss Fight: Either subverted or played straight, depending on how you look at it, with the second phase of Wily Capsule NEO. * Indy Escape: About halfway through Jungle Man's stage, fittingly enough. * Infinity+1 Sword: The Bass Buster, obtained from beating Bass's stage. It's essentially the same as it was in Mega Man & Bass, but it costs (very little) energy to use since it's a sub-weapon now. * Logical Weakness: ** Dragon Man, being the resident fire-based Robot Master, doesn't take too well to the Tidal Wave. ** Sledge Man is themed around building things–even his stage takes place in a factory. Naturally, he's weak to the Rocket Launch, which can blow up anything he builds. ** Thunder Man is weak to the Jungle Cutter not just because it cuts off his power, but because leaves are poor electrical conductors. ** Jungle Man, for his part, is torched by the fiery Dragon Rush. ** Double subverted with Surf Man. He's not weak to the Zap Thunder as one might think. Instead, he's weak to the Lunar Beam, since the moon commands the tides. ** Mirror Man, unsurprisingly, shatters when hit with the Hammer Toss. ** Rocket Man is weak to the Zap Thunder because it throws off his systems, a deadly problem on a rocket ship. ** Lastly, Night Woman has her own beams reflected back at her by the Mirror Barrier. * Lunacy: Night Woman's Lunar Beam. * Making a Splash: The Tidal Wave, which fires a watery wave that follows the ground. * Non-Standard Character Design: Mirror Man is basically a dark blue cloak with a mirror for a head, a far cry from the humanoid designs of most Robot Masters. * Original Flavor: For the most part. * Playing With Fire: Dragon Man. His weapon, the Dragon Rush, allows Mega Man to dash forward while enveloped in flames. * Rainbow Motif: The game's Robot Masters have a relatively clear one, and their serial numbers are in rainbow order. Dragon Man is red, Sledge Man is orange, Thunder Man is yellow, Jungle Man is green, Surf Man is blue, Mirror Man is indigo, Rocket Man is purple, and Night Woman is black. * The Reveal: Unsurprisingly, after beating all eight Robot Masters, it's revealed that Wily was behind it all. *Gasp* * Rise to the Challenge: Near the end of Dragon Man's stage, the lava that has appeared throughout starts rising, and Mega Man has to jump and slide up to the boss room. * Secret Character: By beating the game, one can unlock Roll as a playable character. She has less health than Mega Man, but jumps higher and has an X-style dash. * Sequential Boss: The Wily Capsule NEO starts off with a comparatively simple pattern, then activates its shield generator, and finally pulls out all the stops in one last battle. * Shock and Awe: The Zap Thunder, a powerful Spread Shot of electrical orbs. Thunder Man himself primarily uses his thunder powers but is actually a Weather-Control Machine. * Shout Out: ** The game's plot is one big reference to Mega Man 5. ** Sledge Man's attack pattern, jumping around and throwing hammers, resembles that of Hammer Bros. in the Super Mario franchise. Ditto for the Sledge Joes in his stage, sans the jumps. ** Mirror Man opens his boss battle by throwing aside a glass of wine, a la Dracula. ** The wolf enemies in Night Woman's stage, according to the credits, are named Lupins. Coupled with Night Woman's Phantom Thief motifs, they're likely named after Arsene Lupin. Night Woman herself takes design cues from Persona 5's version of Lupin. * Smart People Play Chess: In the credits, Mirror Man plays chess with Dr. Light. * Spider Mech: The Mecha Spider, boss of Wily Fortress 1. * Spiritual Successor: To Mega Man 5. Similarities include a plot that paints Proto Man as the villain, an almost identical charge shot, the lack of several Mega Man staples (such as underwater sections and Yoku blocks), and a greater emphasis on each stage's unique quirks and gimmicks in the level design. * Spread Shot: The Zap Thunder. * Status Quo is God: Averted. Mega Man finally finds out he is Proto Man's younger brother, and Bass leaves Dr. Wily, becoming an Anti-Villain. * Stealth Pun: In most Mega Man games, a secret can be unlocked by collecting letters that spell out a word. This game's Bonus Boss is unlocked by collecting another type of letter . . . written messages from the boss himself. * Surfer Dude: Surf Man, of course. * Temporary Platform: They're pretty rare, but Yoku blocks do appear in the endgame. * Under the Sea: Averted. There are no water stages in the game, not even in the water-themed Surf Man's stage. (Rocket Man's stage, which takes place in space, emulates the low-gravity effects.) * Video Game Settings: ** Amusement Park of Doom: Rocket Man's stage, set in a Space Zone. ** Band Land: Bass's stage. ** Big Boo's Haunt: Mirror Man's stage. ** Bubbly Clouds: Thunder Man's stage. ** Construction Zone Calamity: Sledge Man's stage, with some Steam Punk motifs. ** Eternal Engine: The Wily Fortress stages. ** Jungle Japes: Jungle Man's stage, with some Ruins for Ruins' Sake around halfway through. ** Lethal Lava Land: Dragon Man's stage. ** Palmtree Panic: Surf Man's stage. ** Skyscraper City: Night Woman's stage, though it obviously takes place at night. * Weather-Control Machine: Thunder Man. * "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The credits show what happened to each of the Robot Masters, and presumably the purpose Proto Man intended them for. ** Dragon Man gets into pyrotechnics, using his fire powers to put on light shows. ** Sledge Man, of course, helps out on construction sites. ** Thunder Man becomes a weather forecaster (who controls it in dire situations.) ** Jungle Man becomes an Adventurer Archaeologist, or at least an explorer of some kind. ** Surf Man is a surfer, but he's also opened a seaside restaurant. ** Mirror Man . . . plays chess with Dr. Light. His actual purpose is unclear. ** Rocket Man is hired for space exploration missions. ** Night Woman stars in her own series of heist movies. ** Lastly, if you've beaten him, Bass begins Walking the Earth to find greater challenges.